In Asia the most popular handset form factor is the clam-shell. This design splits a handset into two halves connected by a hinge-one half that contains the keyboard and one half that contains the display. When the clam-shell is closed and the hinge angle is 0 degrees, the keyboard and display are protected. When the clam-shell is open the user can use the keyboard to make and receive telephone calls.
Handsets with cameras are also becoming increasingly popular in the world. However, the problem of efficiently integrating a camera into a clam-shell design is difficult. One solution, used by handset manufacturers such as NEC, places the camera in the screen half so that when the clam-shell is open the lens points away from the user. However, the screen half has to be very thick to house a telephoto or zoom lens. Another solution, used by vendors such as Samsung, places the camera in the hinge that connects the keyboard and screen halves. In some cases the lens can rotate to face towards or away from the user while the display is still visible by the user. However, it is still difficult to house a large lens or a flash in the hinge.
The above solutions have the additional problem of an awkward user-interface. In order to activate the camera mode, the user must navigate a screen-based menu-system to activate the camera mode. In addition, it is not clear to the user which button to press to release the shutter, zoom-in, or zoom-out.
Furthermore, there is a screen orientation problem. Traditional cameras have viewfinders in landscape orientation. The displays on clam-shell designs are vertically oriented. This means the display must either crop a landscape image to a portrait for viewing, or only use part of the display to view the scene in landscape format. Neither is desirable.
The device described herein is a unique solution to the aforementioned problems. It has the following advantages:                1. A long optical lens can be used in the device without difficulty.        2. The device uses a more familiar landscape orientation of the display when taking pictures or videos.        3. The user does not have to navigate a screen-based menu-system to activate and use the camera functionality.        4. When the device is used as a camera, the device held like a traditional camcorder, thus making the apparatus easier and more intuitive to use.        5. The camera components can be placed in a removable module that can be replaced to achieve different optical capabilities.        